President Droupadi Murmu said on Wednesday that India had secured the rights to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games based on its “confidence and readiness”, highlighting what she described as “unprecedented” development in sports under the Narendra Modi government.
Speaking to a joint sitting of both houses of parliament at the start of the budget session, the president said the government had implemented sweeping structural reforms over the past decade to strengthen sports governance and improve transparency across institutions.
“Due to the joint efforts of the Indian youth and my government, the country is also witnessing an unprecedented development in sports,” Murmu said in her speech.
She noted that reforms have been implemented at various levels of the sports ecosystem, from policy-making to institutional management.
“During the last decade, reforms have been made in all sports-related systems in India. My government formulated the Khelo India policy and made sports-related institutions more transparent and accountable,” she said.
Murmu said these measures played a key role in boosting India’s credibility on the world sporting stage, which ultimately led to the country being awarded the rights to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games.
“As a result of its readiness and confidence, India has been entrusted with the responsibility of hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games,” the President added.
The Games are to be held in Ahmedabad, a city that is also bidding to host the 2036 Olympics, underscoring India’s wider ambitions to become a major global sports hub.
Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has been at the forefront of the government’s push for reforms in sports governance, including the enactment of the landmark National Sports Governance Bill. The legislation aims to ensure greater financial transparency and administrative accountability across national sports federations.
During her speech, Murmu also praised Indian female athletes for their recent achievements on the world stage. She praised the Indian women’s cricket team for winning the World Cup in November last year and also congratulated the Indian blind women’s cricket team for their World Cup triumph a few weeks later.
“The way our daughters and fellow divyangs have improved is truly remarkable,” she said. “Indian women’s cricket team won the World Cup for the first time. Similarly, the blind women’s cricket team also won the World Cup. My heartiest congratulations to my daughters.”
– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
January 28, 2026
